


Family Togetherness Time

by paperairplanesopenwindows



Series: The ClintNatLaura Cinematic Universe (aka Gay Polyamorous Love Stops Thanos) [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: But this time it's self destructive pining, Eventual Clint Barton/Laura Barton/Natasha Romanov, Excessive Drinking, I promise this is a comedy, Laura Barton & Steve Rogers Friendship, Mentions of Wanda Maximoff/Vision - Freeform, Multi, Pining, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, apparently that's a new tag NICE, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22459897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperairplanesopenwindows/pseuds/paperairplanesopenwindows
Summary: “Wanda and I had a girl’s night last week. We made jello shots. We should have a night of our own, soldier. Paint our nails. Braid our hair. Talk about boys.”(aka Steve gets concerned about Nat and turns to the people he thinks can help)
Relationships: Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov
Series: The ClintNatLaura Cinematic Universe (aka Gay Polyamorous Love Stops Thanos) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571932
Comments: 23
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote part of this in 2015. 
> 
> Hopefully it doesn't show to much. 
> 
> Special thanks to Shan and Katherine for the betas and Essbie for the encouragement.

Steve Rogers was prepared to deal with just about anything.

Aliens? Sure. Bucky not being dead? Took a moment, but he was able to roll with it. Tony Stark building a murder bot? He was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. 

He was not prepared to deal with a drunk Natasha Romanoff knocking on the door of his bedroom at nearly midnight on a Monday.

She banged on the door, not even bothering with his touch pad or asking F.R.I.D.A.Y. to let her in. When Steve opened it, she swayed slightly on her feet. The family sized bottle of vodka in her hand only had a quarter left to it and no cap. She stalked into his apartment without a word and plopped down on the couch.

“What?” she said as he stared at her. She took a long drink from the bottle and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. 

“Hello to you too, Romanoff,” he shot back, shutting the door behind her. She glared at him, her eyes red rimmed in a way that could mean crying, but could also just be drunkenness. She took another drink instead of answering, but when he settled on the couch she held the bottle out to him. He took a sip, out of politeness, then handed it back. 

“You trying to give yourself alcohol poisoning?” he asked.

“A good third of it was gone before I started.” Her voice wasn’t slurred. If anything, it was darker and huskier. It’s the exact sort of voice she’d pull out to fill a mark full of lust, but Steve’s couldn’t feel anything except worry. “Wanda and I had a girl’s night last week. We made jello shots.” Her hand shook a little and she tried to play it off by swirling the bottle. “We should have a night of our own, soldier. Paint our nails. Braid our hair. Talk about boys.” She drew the s out and gave him a wicked smile. 

“Sounds like fun, but let’s do it another night.” His worry grew. He genuinely had no idea what to do with Nat like this. But maybe Clint had. They were best friends. “Should I call Barton?” 

Natasha sat straight up. “Don’t you dare,” she hissed, “Don’t you fucking dare.” Her voice was terrifying. For a moment, he saw the Widow, ready to snap his neck, instead of his silly dork of a friend.

Steve put up his hands in surrender. “Ok, ok,” he said, “ok.” 

At the third ok, Natasha settled back into the couch. Her body looked limp and relaxed, but her hands were still white knuckled on the bottle. Steve cast his mind about, trying to think of a non sensitive topic to bring upt. Unfortunately, 98% of the things in Natasha’s life are either classified or have something to do with the Bartons, which seemed to be a sensitive subject. The other 2% he could think of was Bruce (and good God, if she had that reaction to Barton he was not going to touch the topic of Bruce with a fifty foot pole) and their training of the new Avengers team. Which they’d talked half to death in a team leaders meeting before they’d headed their separate ways for the evening and she’d apparently hit the bottle hard.

“Seen any good movies lately?” he finally asked, despite knowing that she’d barely left the facility for the past three weeks. Natasha laughed and it sounded half hysterical.

“Everything I’ve seen is in your Netflix list already,” she said, but her grip relaxed slightly on the bottle, enough that blood began to reach her fingers again. He grinned a little at the statement.

“I watched Sharknado,” he said. Nat groaned at that, slamming her head back against the couch cushions. “I wasn’t a huge fan.”

“Sharks don’t bite that way. Scientifically speaking,” Nat said. 

“Why’d you recommend it to me then, if you don’t like it?”

“Clint and Cooper love all the Asylum shit,” she muttered. Her eyes were closed and she was relaxed enough that Steve decided he could try to take the bottle away from her. He did, gently and slowly, and she let him. He placed the vodka bottle on his coffee table, mindful of its lack of cap, then settled back on the couch. 

“They do?  _ Why _ ?” 

Nat shrugged. “One’s an 11-year-old boy and the other one is a former 11-year-old boy.” Her eyes stayed closed, but she began to worry on her lip. Silence descended. 

“I’m not going to make you talk about it,” Steve finally said. “Though, if you want to, I’m all ears. But I’m not letting you take another drink out of that bottle for the rest of the evening.”

Natasha reached for the bottle as though to spite him and Steve pushed it further out of her reach. 

“Fine,” she drawled, “Then what are we going to do?” 

Steve shrugged. “I don’t know, watch something? Play a video game? Sit here in silence until one of us cracks? Pick one.”

Natasha shook her head like a petulant child. 

“Fine, don’t pick anything. I can pick just fine. But why did you come here if you were just going to drink and bitch? You could do that just fine in your own room.” 

Natasha crossed her arms and Steve mimicked her. They stared at each other, neither breaking eye contact. A longer silence stretched out between them. Finally, Natasha looked away. 

“You ever been in love, Steve?”

“Yeah,” he said, “A couple of times. Why?”

“Just wondering. Not with me, right?”

“God, no. Gross.”

Natasha giggled. 

“Why? Are you in love with me, Romanoff?”

“No,” she said. She suddenly seemed to find her hands very interesting. “Not with you, no.”

“So, all this was about Bruce?” Steve asked, gesturing towards the bottle. 

Natasha shook her head. “No, not Bruce. I’m-” She cut herself off. “You ever just want something, so bad, but you feel you can’t have it and the one time it’s given to you you just...destroy it.” 

“I guess?” Steve thought of Peggy and frowned. “I mean, I never destroyed it. Just didn’t reach for it when I could’ve.”

“That Peggy girl of yours?”

Steve glanced over at her. “Yeah,” he said softly, “Not just her.”

“Ugh,” Nat groaned, “That really makes it sound like you’ve got a thing for me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Romanoff.” 

Nat lifted the pillow next to her and clumsily swung it at him. He dodged it easily. 

“Mostly it was when I was smaller. Didn’t think anyone would want me when I was half a foot shorter than them.”

“Huh,” she said, dropping the pillow. 

“You good now?” he asked.

She shrugged one shoulder. “Better, I guess.”

“Well, stay and watch something with me then.”

He put a movie on, a quiet British period drama that contained a lot of talking and gorgeous dresses. Natasha leaned into his shoulder and dozed. She didn’t reach for the vodka bottle at all, which Steve took as a good sign. As the credits rolled, Natasha yawned until her jaw cracked.. “Well, this was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.”

“Want to sleep here?” Steve asked. He didn’t like the idea of her going off alone. “There’s plenty of room on the couch. You’re small enough to fit.”

“Nah. I’m just down the hall.” She kissed him on the cheek. “See you in the morning, Steve. Let’s see if we can keep Vision and Wanda from flirting with each other long enough to actually focus on their training.” She pointedly left the bottle on the coffee table as she headed out the door. 

The second she was out and his own door was shut, Steve dove for his phone, so quickly he fumbled with it for a couple seconds.

_ To: Clint Barton _

_ Call me as soon as you get this.  _

After a pause, he added. 

_ Non emergency. Something’s up with Nat. _

Steve glanced at the clock. It was nearly four a.m., which even with the time difference meant that he probably wouldn’t hear anything until later in the morning. The phone almost immediately began to ring though and Steve almost forgot to answer in his shock. 

“Hello?” he said, as he picked up the phone. 

“Hi, Steve?” It was a warm woman’s voice. “This is Laura Barton.”

Steve was taken aback. “Oh,” he said finally. “Hello. How’re you?”

She laughed tiredly. “I’m awake with a baby when I’d much rather be sleeping.” The baby made a sharp noise and Laura shushed him. “I saw your text and thought I’d answer. What’s up with Nat?”

Steve worried his lip. “I don’t really know?” he said, “I was kind of hoping that Clint might have some answers.”

“What happened? What did she do?” He could tell Laura was trying to stay calm, but a sharp edge colored her words. 

“She came in super drunk, asked me if I’d ever been in love, and then made some melodramatic statements along that vein.” Steve rubbed the space between his eyes. “I asked if it was about Bruce and she said no, so.”

“Hm,” Laura said. There was a long silence that was then punctured by her saying. “Oh thank God, he went to sleep. Hang on a second, Steve.”

The line went quiet, but then Laura returned. “Steve,” she said, yawning loudly, “I am way too tired to try to figure out what’s going on in Nat’s brain right now. Why don’t you two come down to us this weekend? We were planning on having some family togetherness time.”

Steve frowned. “I don’t want to intrude…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Laura yawned again. “Seriously, the more adults the better.”

“Ok,” Steve said, humoring her, “But how will that help with figuring out what’s up with Nat?”

There was a pause. “I’ll be honest, this is a little bit of a ploy to use your height to our advantage when we go apple picking.”

Steve laughed. 

“But also I’ll corner Nat and pick her brain a bit. She usually has a hard time lying to me. And I’ll make pie and maybe that’ll be a fair enough trade for you.”

“Sure,” he said, “I’d be happy to help with apple picking. We’ll be there.” 

“You better. Night Steve!” Laura said, hanging up. 

  
  


Steve let himself sleep in a little bit in the morning and then headed to the gym. Natasha showed up, looking bright eyed and not at all hungover. Steve raised an eyebrow at her as she approached him. Her gaze turned into a glare and so he glared back. 

“What?”

“Is it merely a coincidence that Laura texted me this morning, asking me to remind you that you promised to help with apple picking?”

“Huh,” Steve said, as innocently as possible, “Yes?”

Natasha frowned more. “You’re a terrible liar.”

He sighed. “I texted Clint because I was worried about you. And she answered because she was up with the baby.” 

Natasha’s face transformed to be the most anxious look he’d ever seen on her. “Nate? Is he ok?”

“She just said he wouldn’t sleep.”

The anxiety didn’t leave her face. “Nothing else?” 

“Nothing else. I’d tell you if she said otherwise, Nat.” 

Natasha nodded. 

“She just invited us down for the weekend. Said it might help you clear your mind.” 

“Clear my mind, my ass,” Natasha muttered. She crossed her arms, in thought. “I’ll go down this weekend so they don’t have cause to worry,” she declared. “Don’t worry about coming, it’s not necessary.” 

“Are you sure?” Steve said, innocently. “What if Laura’s told the kids that Captain America’s coming apple picking with them?” 

Natasha sighed. “Ugh. She would do that.”

“Hey,” Steve said, “I’ll behave myself around your family.” Natasha’s cheeks went surprisingly pink when he said ‘your family’, but he barreled on. “Seriously, I think that it’d be nice to get out of the compound for a weekend. And I know you miss them. I think it’ll be fun!” 

Natasha nodded, then sighed, her cheeks still pink. “Fine. But you’re the one signing up to take three high energy kids apple picking.”

“They’re just kids. What could go wrong?”

Natasha laughed. “Oh, Steve. You don’t know what you’re in for.”

  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, but if I'm gonna update the angst fest, I should also update the much less angsty fic in the same week right?
> 
> Disclaimer: I have never gone apple picking, or if I have I was way too young to remember it. I have no idea how close this is to The Apple Picking Experience (TM). Kiss_Me_Cassie gave me some tips way back win (thank you as always!!!!) and AuroraShard wrote their own lovely apple picking clintnatlaura fic (which you can read [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21552874)) which probably is more along the lines of real apple picking (and also is just a generally lovely fic, so please read it). 
> 
> Speaking of lovely fic, CloudAtlas wrote their own version of the "Thank God you didn't die when SHIELD fell" sex for me for the be_compromised fic Remix exchange which you can read [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24231238). I might like it better than my version lol. 
> 
> And yeah, this is a three parter now. Whoops. 
> 
> Hope you guys are all staying safe and healthy out there! Enjoy!

“Oh thank God you’re here,” Laura said, as she opened the door for Steve and Natasha. In her arms was a screaming Nathaniel and she passed him over to Natasha before either of them had a chance to say hello. “Just, take him for a minute while I get the other two together, ok?”

“Sure,” Natasha said, even though she was already holding the baby, and Laura gave her a grateful look before disappearing back into the house. 

Natasha propped the crying baby up on her shoulder and began to pace with him. “Shhhhhh,” she crooned, “shhhhh Nate. It’s ok.” When the baby’s cries didn’t let up, she switched to Russian. The words sounded lilting and soothing and the baby’s cries eventually died out. 

“You’re good with him,” Steve said, surprised. 

Natasha shrugged as well as she could with a baby on one shoulder. “I’m just copying Laura, really,” she said. She pressed a kiss to Nate’s head. He was still awake, panting a little, and starring in Steve’s direction with a perplexed frown on his little face. Natasha jiggled him. “Say hi to Mr. Steve,” she said in a silly voice. 

“Mr. Steve?”

She smirked at him as she gave Nate’s little hand a kiss. “They gotta call you something.”

“Hey,” Clint said, stepping out onto the porch. He looked tired, but grinned happily at the sight of them. “Good to see you, Steve.”

“Good to see you too,” Steve said, leaning in for the handshake and hug combo that Nat rolled her eyes at. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“You’re always welcome, Cap.” He reached over to reel Nat into his arms. “Hey Nat,” he said, muffled into her hair. “Long time, no see.” 

Nat reached her free arm up to rub on his back. “Well, I’m here now,” she said. 

“The kids have missed you.”

“Just the kids, huh?” Steve could hear the smirk in her voice again. 

The hug went on a little too long, until Nate made a noise and the two of them jumped apart, flushing. Clint cleared his throat and Natasha smoothed her hair back out of her face. 

Clint gestured to Nate. “Want me to take him?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “He’s my baby now.” 

Clint chuckled. “He was always your baby,” he said. Nat went somehow even pinker at that and busied herself with rubbing Nate’s back. 

“Ok, we’re all set,” Laura said, bustling out of the front door with the two older kids trailing behind her. “Are all of you adults ready to go?” 

“Yeah,” Steve said, over Lila Barton’s high pitched squeal at the sight of her Aunt. “Ready when you are.” 

The apple orchard was thankfully a short drive away, since Steve had to squish down a bit to fit in the Barton’s van. Lila and Cooper kept up steady chatter the entire time they drove to the apple orchard, all directed at their Aunt. He tried to chat with Clint and Laura, but it was hard for them to hear him over the children’s noise. He didn’t mind though. Nat seemed truly drawn out of her shell discussing Lila’s science fair project and Cooper’s Odyssey of the Mind.

They stopped at a large orchard and Laura paid the farmer while Clint juggled getting the three kids out of the van. The air was crisp and Steve took a deep breath in.

“Ready to race some kids to pick the most apples?”

He turned to see Laura approaching him, baskets in hand. “Surely that’s not fair to the kids,” he said, accepting the basket she held out to him. 

“Oh please, what’s the point of having kids if you can’t trick them into picking a bunch of apples for you,” she said. “Feel free to point out certain ones and tell my kids that you bet they can’t reach it, they’ll love to prove you wrong.”

“Oh, so _that’s_ the secret. Tricking them into doing things for you.” 

“And bribery. Don’t forget bribery. That’s very important in getting them to do what you want.”

Clint brought Nate over. “Trade you,” he said, accepting the baskets so Laura could get the baby settled in the sling she was wearing. “Sure you don’t want me to wear him for a bit?”

“He’s going to be wanting to eat in less than an hour. And then I’m going to try to pawn him off to Nat as much as possible.” 

“I’m happy to take him as well,” Steve offered, “if you need me too.” 

“Thank you Steve,” Laura said brightly. “If Natasha gets bored of him, we’ll tap you in.”

Steve gave her a smile. “Just let me know.” 

True to Laura’s word, the kids were up for all matter of challenges. Natasha issued them as easy as breathing. “Bet you can’t pick more apples than me,” she challenged Lila and the little girl was literally climbing trees to prove her wrong. 

“Lift me up?” she asked Steve adorably and Steve happily obliged. That might have been a mistake, as Lila then turned to Steve to be lifted for every apple too high for her to reach. 

Natasha clicked her tongue at him. “She’s going to hound you all day, you know.” 

Steve shrugged. “I really don’t mind.” Lila pulled at his shirt again and he lifted her up to the shiny apple she had her eye on. She shrieked joyfully at the movement. 

Laura sat comfortably under the tree, clearly enjoying having other adults chase after her kids for the time being. Nate had napped in his sling, but had woken up and she was bouncing him lightly and making noises at him to keep him entertained. 

Lila turned to Steve, shiny red apple clutched in her hand. “Isn’t it pretty?” 

“So pretty,” Steve agreed, making sure that the apple made it into their bag. Natasha and Cooper were the next tree over, using long grabbing sticks to reach high up into the tree. Natasha made a face at him and he grinned back at her. 

“Kids!” Clint called as he returned from a trip back to the farmers stand. “Lunch is ready!” Lila and Cooper dropped what they were doing and hurried over to their father, leaving Steve and Natasha to carry the bags of apples and grabbing sticks. 

Cooper and Lila practically inhaled their lunches before running back up to the trees, but the adults stayed lounging on the picnic blankets and ate leisurely, Clint and Natasha yelling at the kids to stay in sight every time they tried to head further out. 

“How are you enjoying the family togetherness time?” Laura asked Steve. 

Steve smiled. “Very much,” he said. “Thank you for inviting me.” 

“Of course! You’re welcome anytime.” She leaned forward a little and faux whispered, “Between you and me, Nat needs more friends.” 

Natasha rolled her eyes. “I have plenty of friends, Laura.” 

“Hm,” Laura said, in a way that tells Steve that she doesn’t agree with that statement. In her arms, Nate began fussing. Laura looked at Steve apologetically. “Sorry, it’s his lunch time too,” she said. 

“Oh,” Steve said. “No worries.”

“Want me to grab you a blanket, Laura?” Natasha asked.

“Why?” Laura teased “It’s not like you haven’t seen it all before.” 

Natasha made a choking sound and her face flushed bright red. Next to her, Clint’s hand flew up and covered his mouth, his face going pink. Laura glanced between the two of them, her face suddenly going white. “Wait, Nat, that’s not what I--” 

Without a word, Natasha stood up and walked off. 

Laura leaned back against the tree with a solid thud. “Fuck,” she muttered. 

Clint was staring off after Natasha. “I know,” he said. 

“We were doing so _well_.” 

“I know,” Clint repeated. “I mean, she showed up, right? That’s progress.” 

“I think we just took about ten steps back, damnit.” Nate made a noise and Laura maneuvered him around until they were covered and Nate was eating happily. Clint stared after Natasha’s retreating form until they couldn’t see her anymore through the trees.

“Hi, Steve,” Laura said, weakly, seemingly remembering that Steve was there. 

“Hi, Laura,” Steve said back. “Sorry for uh, whatever just happened.” 

“Yeah,” Laura said, also starring in the direction Natasha had gone. 

“She’ll be back,” Steve assured her. “I mean, we came in one car.” 

“Luckily it’s too far for her to walk home,” Clint muttered, rubbing his hand across his face. 

“I can go after her if you want,” Steve offered. 

Laura chewed her lip. “Give her a few minutes and then...yeah, if you could, please.” 

Steve gave her thirty minutes, finishing his lunch, helping the kids pick more apples, and noticing Clint and Laura’s looks in the direction Nat had gone getting increasingly more worried. 

“Be right back,” he told the kids as he headed in the direction Nat had gone. 

Once he was out of hearing distance, he called her. The phone seemed to ring endlessly before she picked up.

“What?” she said in lieu of a greeting. 

“Hey, where are you?” Steve tried to keep his voice light. “It’s been like half an hour since you walked off. Did you get lost?” 

There was silence and then Natasha sighed. “I’m by the car,” she said. 

“Well, you should come back. Lila wants your help in picking apples now.” A bit of a low blow to use the kids, but he figured it was the best way to get her to rejoin the group. He picked up the pace. “Stay where you are and I’ll come meet up with you.”

“Fine,” Natasha said before hanging up.

He made his way down to the parking lot and she was leaning up against the Barton’s car, face carefully arranged to not look like she had a care in the world. 

“You really standing here and sulking when you could be spending time with your family?” 

Natasha lifted an eyebrow. “Sulking?” 

“You have a better word for it?”

Natasha crossed her arms and glared at him. Steve mimicked the behavior. 

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go back to the others. Laura and Clint were worried about you.” 

“What else is new?” Natasha muttered, but she didn’t hesitate to fall into step beside Steve as he turned and headed back the way he came. 

They walked a few paces in silence until Steve decided to break it. “Want to talk about it?” he offered. 

“No,” Natasha said curtly. 

“Ok,” Steve said, not wanting to push. He tilted his head, considering. “I could watch the kids tonight if you and Laura and Clint wanted to talk and work out whatever falling out you guys had.” 

“We didn’t have a falling out.” 

“Hm,” Steve said. Natasha was almost too smooth in her rejection. The faux cheerful look on her face was getting a bit disconcerting. “Well, something isn’t quite right between the three of you.” 

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Don’t keep guessing, it’s annoying.” 

“Well, then I won’t.”

They’d reached where the family was and Steve watched Laura and Clint’s faces light up when they saw Nat.

“I’m sure I’ll figure it out long before you’re ready to tell me anything, Romanoff,” Steve said, as he lifted his hand to wave to the others. 

Natasha opened her mouth to retort, but was distracted by Lila throwing herself at her and never got the words out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to talk about clintnatlaura, please come find me at [paperairplanesopenwindows](https://paperairplanesopenwindows.tumblr.com/)!


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